Malena Amaro · Wild Little Secret
Malena Amaro · Wild Little Secret Backstage
Malena Amaro was already running naked on the wild beach before I started recording Wild Little Secret. I had found this wonderful place and was about to begin, but Malena was one step ahead of me. Quite a few steps, actually. :)
Usually, I like to feel that I know when a shoot starts. There is the camera, there is the person in front of it, and somewhere in the middle is me, trying to be ready for the first moment. Malena made that idea look a little silly. She was enjoying the beach before I had recorded a second.
Should I have been quicker? Probably. But I also loved seeing her like that. Her excitement was immediate, and it had nothing to do with waiting for me to say, “Okay, now we begin.” If the beach was going to make her want to run, my schedule was clearly not going to stop her.
I had to laugh at myself. A photographer can spend a lot of time thinking about how to bring energy into a shoot. Where should I start? How much direction does someone need? Then Malena runs past all those questions before the camera is even rolling. Thank you, Malena. I’ll put my carefully considered plan over here. :)
What stayed with me was how much she seemed to enjoy that freedom. I did not need to talk her into a mood or ask her to look as though she was having fun. She was already having fun. That gave me something much better to work with than an idea I could have imposed on her.
Of course, once I began recording, I still had my job to do. I wanted to follow the feeling Malena had brought to the beach, not interrupt it by trying to make every moment too tidy. There is a difference between directing a shoot and getting in the way of it. On this one, I was happy to let Malena lead.
And yes, the performance you see in Wild Little Secret is real. I had seen her enjoying herself before recording started, so I knew that energy was not something she switched on just for my camera. That is a lovely thing to witness from behind it. You can pay attention, find your way into the moment and do your best to capture it, but you cannot manufacture someone else’s genuine enjoyment.
I think that is why the beginning still makes me smile. We found a wonderful wild beach, and Malena immediately made it her own. I was getting ready to record; she was already running. Perhaps next time I should start with my camera in my hand.
Then again, I would not change that first glimpse of her for anything. It told me exactly what kind of shoot this would be, and I was very glad I got to share it with her.
Comments